May 16, 2020
Scarring of the liver leads to
numerous health concerns and in this podcast, Dr. Friedman
addresses these concerns and ways pharmaceutical companies are
trying to prevent these diseases.
He tells listeners
Dr. Scott L. Friedman is the
Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and Chief of the Division of Liver
Diseases at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has
worked to address
liver diseases since 1984 and considers himself a physician
scientist who oversees clinical trials and program.
He explains that the liver gets scarred as a consequence of a
variety of insults, from hepatitis A and B to alcoholic disease to
NAFLD and NASH. Progressive inflammation leads to scarring and then
advanced scarring known as cirrhosis.
He tells listeners that any
disease of the liver often begins with a fatty liver and explains
the physiology of this, how liver regeneration can be impeded by
fatty liver, and how the liver functions to handle any toxins that
enter our bodies. He says that the main fibrotic or scaring
disease targeted by pharmaceutical companies is NASH, which falls
under the umbrella term NAFLD.
He adds that a disease that is rising worldwide and part of
liver disease is a full body disease known as metabolic
syndrome, which includes type 2 diabetes, obesity, and other
issues. He explains why liver disease is often overlooked and why
this is a problem. He finishes with mentioning some new drugs, one
of which should be available soon, to prevent this
scarring.
For more, see helpful groups that address liver issues such as the American Liver Foundation, the Mt. Sinai web site, the American Association for the Study of Liver Disease, and the Fatty Liver Foundation.